Monday, February 13, 2006

Home Security and Children

This blog entry will especially be important to you if you have children. This article discusses how to make sure that your home security efforts protect your children from all possible dangers to them. When you are making your house secure to prevent burglary attempts, you are also increasing the security of your children. For example, strong doors with good locks and enforced windows will prevent any stranger from getting inside your house without your permission, especially when your children are at home. Also, when you clean up your yard and cut some of the trees branches to increase the viewable area so you can see what is going on outside, this also allows you to watch after your children when they are playing outside.

Another example deals with the situation when you hide your yard tools and equipment in the shed. This step also protects your children from hurting themselves by playing with this equipment. There are many other examples when home security steps serve two purposes: the protection of your house and the protection of your family, particularly your children.

When you are trying to prevent the inside dangers to your house, you are also protecting the life and wellbeing of your children. The list of inside dangers includes but is not limited to fire, water flooding, electrical shortage, gas leak and many others. Many of the inside dander pose a direct threat to your life and the lives of your children.

For example, in an event of a fire or a gas leak, there is a danger to everyone who is located inside the house. The steps that you take to prevent these dangers and threats protect everyone, including your children. These are the steps like checking that all of the electrical, gas and water equipment is turned off when it is not in use. You should also make sure that your children turn this equipment off when they are done using it. Installation of fire detectors, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and natural gas detectors protects the whole family and can provide you with those few extra seconds to save your life and lives of your children. Also, creating alternative exit routes is contributing to the safety of your kids.

Your participation in the neighborhood watch programs increases the safety of your kids. Not only your neighbors will help you by watching that nothing wrong happens to your house. They can also watch over your kids when they are playing outside and make sure that your kings are safe and protected. They will be able to notify you of any possible dangers.

If you have good relationships with your neighbors, they will be able to help you watch the kids when you have to be away from your house for some time. The participation in the neighborhood watch program provides you and your family with a lot of benefits and only requires a little extra effort from your side. Participating in the watch program also allows you to attend various security trainings and seminars. Many of these seminars are dedicated to the security of your family and particularly to the security of your kids. Even if you can’t attend these seminars, some of your neighbors can and they will be happy to share the information that they leaned.

Other security steps also contribute to the safety of your children. For example, if you purchased a house in a location that offers external security program, you achieved a higher security protection for your whole family. The external security program involves placing a security fence around your community or apartment complex and allowing entry and exit only through the main gate or gates. The entry is allowed only for the community residents. A gate is opened only after a security code is entered. Many external security programs involve a security guard who makes sure that only residents or authorized guests can enter the area. This type of security system also helps to protect your children by shielding them from strangers and criminals. This is the reason to try to make sure that the next time you are moving you should try to move to a community that has some type of external security system in place.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Video Equipment for Home Security

There are many different ways to protect your home, your personal belongings and your family from possible burglars. The recent advances in technology contributed to the development of a lot of new and improved equipment for home security. This article will talk about different video equipment that is used in the security industry.

Video equipment not only allows preventing possible theft attempts but also can provide evidence for convicting the criminals that participated in robbery. Video equipment allows you to have a professional surveillance of your house, land, cars and personal belongings.

There are many different types of video equipment used for security purposes. The most popular type that you will hear about most of the time includes various video cameras. There are many types and characteristics of video cameras. For example, one type of cameras that you can find for sale is hidden cameras.

These cameras are made in such a way that when they are installed properly, it is very hard to notice them. They are usually very small and don’t require a lot of space to install them. Another type of cameras is infrared (or “day and night”) cameras. These cameras are designed to be installed mostly outside. Infrared cameras work as regular color cameras during the day. When it gets dark, the camera switches to infrared mode by turning on the black and white mode and turning on the infrared light. This provides much better quality of the recorded (and viewable) picture during the time it is dark (night).

Another important distinction of video cameras deals with the way the images are delivered to your TV or video (or digital) recorder. The first and the most popular type of cameras uses wireless way of transmission of information. Wireless cameras require additional equipment: wireless transmitter and receiver. The transmitter is usually either attached to the camera itself or is already installed inside the camera (as one system). The role of the transmitter is to transfer to the receiver the images that the camera records. The receiver is attached to your VCR or TV. Its role is to catch the images sent by the camera and to display them on the screen. The benefit of wireless cameras is the fact that there are no cables connecting then to the TV. This makes the camera less noticeable and easier to install and maintain. However, wireless cameras are usually somewhat more expensive then regular wired ones.

If you are purchasing video cameras to be installed outside of your house, you should definitely make sure that the cameras that you are purchasing are weatherproof. This is especially important if you live in a location where weather changes often. By purchasing weatherproof cameras you are saving money in a long run. These cameras will work much longer and will provide you with a lot more security and safety. For example, if a theft attempt is made during the bad weather period, your weatherproof camera will continue to work and will protect you from possible losses resulting from the theft attempt.

Indoor cameras are also available for sale. It is a good idea to install indoor cameras in all of the locations inside your house where you keep your valuables (for example, a room where you installed your safe). If you would like to install outside wireless cameras, you should probably experiment with inside cameras first. The reason for this is the fact that wireless transmission is easier to set up and test inside the house due to the line of sight limitations (making sure transmitter and receiver work together).

When you purchase your VCR or digital recorder to be installed with the video system, you should take a look at the video motion detection equipment. This equipment (whether already installed in the VCR or as a separate tool) allows to do the recording only when motion is detected by the equipment. This will allow storing more information on your storage device (VCR tape, DVD, hard drive, etc.). Many cameras also provide such features as zoom and audio capability. The zoom feature allows you to use the camera to see a more detailed picture. The audio feature allows for both sound and video recording.


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